32 Bizarre and Fascinating Facts about Thanksgiving →
Whenever November hits, you can be sure that a lot of people will be talking turkey. Thanksgiving is one of the country’s most beloved holidays, a four-day weekend of football, food, friends, and family. The annual celebration of the feast between the pilgrims at Plymouth and the Wampanoag tribesmen is eagerly anticipated by kids and adults alike.
Over the course of its history, this cherished national holiday has had more than a few interesting facts pop up about itself. These fascinating pieces of trivia are not only fun to know, but they have the tendency to make you fall in love with the holiday even more. Here are 32 of the more intriguing tidbits about Thanksgiving:
1. Mary Had a Little… Turkey? — Thanksgiving wasn’t always a national holiday. In fact, it was only declared as one in 1863, thanks in large parts to a campaign started by magazine editor Sarah Josepha Hale. If the name doesn’t ring a bell, you might know her better as the author of the popular nursery rhyme, “Mary Had a Little Lamb”.
2. Roosevelt’s Mistake — Although the official proclamation was to celebrate Thanksgiving on every fourth Thursday of November, Franklin Delano Roosevelt actually changed the date to the third Thursday of March November from 1939-1941. He made the change on the assumption that the economy would benefit from a longer holiday shopping season. Public outrage, however, soon changed that and Thanksgiving was back on schedule ever since.
3. Franklin’s Fine Feathered Friend — Not everyone was happy when the bald eagle was chosen as the country’s national bird. Benjamin Franklin was among those opposed to the decision, saying that the eagle had a “bad moral character”. Instead, he preferred the turkey, a more respectable bird and a true native of America.
4. That’s a Heavy Meal! —We sure do love our turkey. According to a study done by the National Turkey Foundation, Americans consumed over 690 million pounds of turkey during Thanksgiving in 2007. If that number doesn’t stun you enough, think about this — that is just about the same weight as the entire population of Singapore!
5. Brand New Menu — The original Thanksgiving dinner never had pumpkin pie on the table. In fact, it was a lot different from what we traditionally enjoy each year. The pilgrims and Native Americans at the first dinner feasted on wild fowl and venison, along with more exotic seafood like lobster, eel, seal, and swan! Can you imagine stuffing a seal?
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